Sump selector valve



A. L. PARKER sum? SELECTOR VALVE OriginalFiIed May 15, 1943 lllllll. I ll l |l.

Oct. 15, 1946.

v IN VEN TOR. ARTHUR L. PARKER, Deceased by //L 6!!! 'M. PARKER, Exeufr/x A7TORNEY5 Patented Oct. 15, 1946 SUMP SELECTOR VALVE Arthur L.Parker, deceased,

late of Shaker Heights, Ohio, by Helen M. Parker, executrix, ShakerHeights, Ohio, assignor to The Parker Appliance Company, Cleveland,Ohio, a corporation of Ohio Continuation of application Serial No.486,862, May 13, 1943. This application June 5, 194.6,

Serial No. 674,424

3 Claims.

The invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in sumpselector valves adapted for use in fuel supply tanks of aircraft in themanner disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent 2,332,007, issued to Arthur L.Parker October 19, 1943.

In an airplane the fuel supply tank is mounted fixedly relative to theframe structure in such position that the longitudinal axis of the tankwill be disposed substantially horizontally when the airplane assumeslevel flight. When the airplane is at rest on the ground, the tank istilted upward so that the fuel lies at the back end of the tank, and thetank will remain tilted until the airplane has reached the desiredaltitude and assumes a level flight. During flight, the tank will betilted more or less as the airplane moves upward or downward and duringbanking in the making of turns. In order to avoid the delivery of airinto the engine fuel lines as a result of uncovering of a line inlet inthe tank due to tilting of the tank, ther is provided a plurality offuel dispensing pipes which terminate adjacent the ends of the tank, orat Widely spaced points in the tank, with which pipes is associated asump selector valve mounted for tilting movement with the tank and whichis so disposed that gravity-actuated valves therein will control thedispensing pipes whereby fuel will be supplied solely from the pipeleading to the lowermost position in the tank during its tiltingmovements.

An object of the invention is to provide in a sump selector valve of thecharacter stated wherein are provided longitudinally spaced, rollablymounted ball valves cooperating with seats for suitably controlling flowof liquid fuel through the valve upon tilting thereof, a novel bafflearranged between the ball valves to prevent direct impingement of theincomin liquid fuel with the ball valve which is seated, preventing theball valve from being unseated and eliminating chattering and at thesame time permitting free flow of the liquid fuel past the unseated ballvalve.

.A further object of the invention is to provide in a valve structure ofthe character stated wherein is included a battle arranged between theball valves, a member mounted to swing in a slot in the bafile andhaving projections therefrom so proportioned and placed relative to theball valves and the seats with which they are engageable as to preventsimultaneous seating of both valves.

A further object of the invention is to provide a valve structure of thecharacter stated wherein the baflie upon which the swingable ballengaging member is supported is carried by a closure memher removablymounted in an opening in the casing disposed opposite the casing outlet.

With the above and other objects in view that will hereinafter appear,the nature of the invention will be more fully understood by followingthe detailed description, the appended claims and the several viewsillustrated in the accompanying drawing.

In the drawing:

Figure 1 is a central longitudinal section illustrating the improvedvalve structure.

Figure 2 is a central vertical cross section of the valve structureillustrated in Figure l, the center bafile being shown in elevation.

Figure 3 is a vertical cross section of the valve casing per se takenthrough one ball chamber thereof and looking toward th center of thecasing.

The sump selector valve structure in which the invention is incorporatedcomprises a casing 5 which is generally cylindriform in shape and openat both ends. The casing is provided centrally of its length with anoutlet opening 6 which is disposed perpendicularly with respect to thelongitudinal axis of the casing and opens downwardly in the mannerclearly illustrated in Figure 1. Inlet openings are provided in therespective ends 7 of the casing, and within each end of the casing isformed a ball valve chamber 8, and a central fiow chamber 9 is disposedin the center of the casing between said ball chambers and communicatingtherewith through circular openings I 0.

It is to be understood that the respective ends I of the casing areadapted to be connected by ducts or pipe lines with the fuel tank of anairplane, said pipes or ducts opening into the tank at spaced points sothat one at least thereof always will be connected with the fuel supplywhereas the other may be open at times to air in the tank in the mannerclearly disclosed in U. S. Letters Patent 2,332,007 issued to Arthur L.Parker, October 19, 1943, and hereinbefore referred to. The outletopening 6 is adapted to be connected by a pipe or conduit with thebooster pump usually provided, and through said pump with the engine tobe supplied with fuel.

The casing wall in which each fuel supply or seat opening I0 is formedis provided endwise with an annular seat structure generally designatedH. Within each ball chamber 8 is provided a plurality ofcircumferentially spaced guide ribs l2 which are disposed parallel theaxis of the casing and serve as guides for the ball valves I3 which arerollably mounted in the respective chambers. By reason of the particularmounting of the balls in the manner described and clearly illustrated inFigures 1 and 3, it will be obvious that as the valve structure istilted, theball in one ofthe chambers 8 will roll away from thecooperating seat and provide a liquid fuel passageway about the ball,through the respective seat opening in and to the outlet 6, and the ballin the other chamber 8 will roll against the cooperating seat II andclose the respective seat opening 10.

At its central portion, directly over the outlet opening 6, the casing 5is provided with an opening l4 which is closed by a removably mountedclosure cap [5, said cap being secured fluid-tight against a recessedgasket l8 in the manner clearly illustrated in Figures 1 and 2. The capincludes a center boss 0r plug extension [1 which depends in the casingopening l4, said boss being provided with a depending center baffle IBwhich is slightly wider than the diameter of the casing openings In andis rounded as at is at its lower extremity on an arc the radius of whichis slightly greater than the radius of said openings ID. The baffle I8is provided with a centrally longitudinally disposed slot 28 and apendulum member 2| is pivotally mounted as at 22 in said slot. Thependulum member is provided at its upper end with shoulders 23 effectiveto limit swinging movement of the member in the central vertical planeincluding the axis of the casing, and at its lower end the pendulummember 2| is provided with endwise extensions 24 which include arcuateend faces 25 disposed along the center of the casing in p0sition forcontacting the ball valves IS in the manner clearly illustrated inFigure 1. It will be observed by reference to Figure 1 that the pendulummember extensions are so spaced that they will engage with the ballvalves [3 and prevent seating of both balls at any given time.

In order to prevent direct, full force impingement of incoming fuel withthe ball valves l3, an inlet baffle 26 is mounted at each end of thecasing in the manner clearly illustrated in Figure 1. Each inlet baffleincludes a convex center portion conforming generally to the curvatureof the adjacent portion of the respective ball valve, and is equippedwith a plurality of outer openings 2': disposed adjacent the diametriclimit of the adjacent ball, and also with a center opening 28 of limitedarea which permits a limited amount of direct impingement of incomingfuel with the respective ball valve [3 and not objectionable full forceimpingement such as would cause the ball to partake of violent,uncontrolled movements in its chamber.

The present invention is directed to the center bafile E8, the pendulummembe :21 and the novel mounting of these parts. The specific seatstructures and inlet baflles form no part of the present invention, andare covered in the copending application for U. S. Letters Patent ofJoseph F. Melichar and Wilton Margrave filed May 13, 1943, Serial Number486,862, the present application constituting a continuation of saidcopending application.

The partition or center baflie l8, proportioned in the manner stated,covers the valve seat openings H1 in a manner for diverting or guidingthe incoming liquid fuel passing either ball valve l3 laterally anddownwardly through the outlet opening 6. In this manner, the incomingfuel will not impinge upon the seated ball valve and tend to unseat thesame. While the center baflie l8 thus prevents the incoming liquid fuelpassing one unseated ball valve [3 from directly engaging and effectingan unseating of the other seated ball valve, yet it does not obstructthe proper and free flow of the incoming liquid fuel through theunseated ball valve associated seat to the outlet opening 6.

It is to be understood that the form of the invention herein shown anddescribed is to be considered as a preferred example of the same andthat various changes in the shape, size and arrangement of parts may beresorted to without departing from the spirit of said invention or thescope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An elongated valve casing having inlet openings at its ends and anoutlet opening intermediately of its ends, a central flow chamberleading to said outlet opening and a valve chamber in each end forreceiving fluid through the respective inlet openings, a ring seatbetween each valve chamber and the central flow chamber, a freelyrolling ball in each valve chamber adapted to roll by gravity toward andfrom the respective seat, a wall traversing the flow chamber centrallybetween said ring seats, a spacer member swingably mounted in thecentral flow chamber and having ball engaging portions disposed forengaging between the balls so as to permit seating of one ball at a timeand never both balls, and a bafile disposed centrally at each inletopening in position for deflecting incoming fluid around the respectiveball.

2. An elongated valve casing having inlet openings at its ends and anoutlet opening intermediately of its ends, a centrol flow chamberleading to said outlet opening and a valve chamber in each end forreceiving fluid through the respective inlet openings, a ring seatbetween each valve chamber and the central flow chamber, a freelyrolling ball in each valve chamber adapted to roll by gravity toward andfrom the respective seat, a bafiie wall traversing the flow chambercentrally between said ring seats, and a spacer member mounted to swingas a pendulum in an upright plane including the axis of the casing andhaving ball engaging portions disposed for engaging between the balls soas to permit seating of one ball at a time and never both balls.

3. A structure as defined in claim 2 in which the casing is providedwith an opening opposite the outlet opening, and in'which there isincluded a removably mounted closure for said opening which serves as aremovable mounting for the baffie wall.

HELEN M. PARKER. Executria: of the Estate of Arthur L. Parker,

Deceased.

